Discovering Wide Lying Smiles…

Being an ‘events blogger’, I imagined at the end of Folkstock Festival and its post-event buzz that I would log off and submit my Folkstock Festival Musical Notes to the cyber pages of internet history. An archive of reviews and ramblings, pretty pictures and ever less impressive video qualities (Youtube videos of tomorrow are going to project life-sized, holographic images of bands directly into my bedroom so that I can go to a gig without so much as moving my hand to wipe the drool from my ever fresh-air depraved mouth, right?) that would serve as a good point of reference for all involved to see how far they’ve all come – artists, Folkstock brand and all.

But as my blog’s lain dormant, the Folkstock community has remained very much alive and kicking in the heart of …well, Hertfordshire (too much?) and as I’ve tagged along for the ride; dropping in and out of the local music scene at various stages of its bubbling progression – much the same as I did over the festival period itself – my blogging fingers have itched to dance over a laptop keyboard to the catchy melodies that have surfaced over the last few months; attempting to articulate with words alone the talent that I’ve seen growing.

Joining Folkstock Founder Helen Meissner and Nick and the Sun Machine’s Nick Stephenson, at the Alban Arena, for the album launch: Wide Lying Smiles. 08.03.14.

However, it can be daunting to try and capture the passion and inspiration that flows out of guitars, vocal harmonies and lyrical genius on the pages of a website; and quite frankly, I didn’t really have a clue whether I was doing it right the first time around!

But the Krakatoa moment in my music blogging ‘career’ came last weekend, Saturday 8th March, as Nick and The Sun Machine’s debut album Wide Lying Smiles burst onto the scene.

From my seat in the dark corner of the  Alban Arena stalls, subtly trying to peer around the couple next to me that were caught up in a mood far too physical to have been ignited by the electric opening chords of ‘Acid Rain Clouds’ (however exciting the immediate burst of music may be!), the energy and flawless musical chemistry that came from the stage for the entirety of Nick and The Sun Machine’s set moved me. So much so, that I knew I was going to have to write about the experience.

In fact, the beauty of the album is it, in itself, delivers an experience – stepping away from the atmosphere of a live gig, the smooth quality of the sounds in the album recording easily allow you to drift into a relaxed state of listening; an eclectic mix of rock, pop, and folk, each track manages to flow seamlessly into one another, yet still deliver melodic surprises.

I picked up my copy of the album on my way into the St Albans Arena gig, instantly intrigued by the artwork. Created by St Albans local (and Bass player Joe White’s brother) George White; the cover shows an eye-catching pattern of psychedelic colours overlaying an image of a 16th century Memento Mori pendant: a symbolic reminder of mortality; that we are just flesh and bone.

Wide Lying Smiles album artwork

It was hard to gauge from the curious but modish album cover what kind of sound, or even genre, the music of the album would reveal itself to be. I’d already bought a copy of the acoustic teaser release; Quiet Lying Smiles from a gig at Trestle Arts Base some weeks ago, but the tracks definitely sound somewhat different to the clear-cut, high quality sound of the rock/folk/pop influences at play in Wide Lying Smiles.

Quiet Lying Smiles E.P

So from my chair in the familiar dark surrounds of the Alban Arena, I waited anxiously for the notes of the new album to prove themselves. I already had the CD in my bag; now it was up to Nick and The Sun Machine to convince me that I actually needed to listen to it after tonight.

Having recorded the debut album from April to June of last year, I’m sure the four-piece band – Nick Stephenson (Vocals), Simon Hadwin (Drums), Joe White (Bass) and Michael Scott (Guitar/Keyboard) – were feeling a mix of excitement and pressure as they began to play; marking the official launch of the album in front of a home crowd – but if they did, it didn’t show.

Resonating through the auditorium, the up tempo ‘Acid Rain Clouds’ was the perfect introduction to the evening. Unfolding to allow each member of the band to present their talents, and lead singer Nick Stephenson the chance to flawlessly showcase the smooth tones to his voice, I wasn’t surprised to learn afterwards that this is Nick’s favourite recording on the album. Other than reminding him of a happy time creatively (which shows in the way he performs it) Nick explains “the arrangement by the rest of the band takes it somewhere I would not have envisaged initially… that’s why we are a ‘band’ as opposed to a singer with backing musicians”.

‘Ask Me For My Name’ and ‘Baby A’ were among the crowd-pleasing tracks that followed, but the pinnacle of the evening for me came with the change in pace and atmosphere that ‘White Chalk’ brought with it. The haunting acapella harmonies that make up the first few bars of the song were spine-tingling as they echoed out through the venue, making the performance seem all the more intimate than before. Given how distinct this song is, I was pleased to find it’s the opening track of the album.

The real gem in Nick and The Sun Machine’s song writing crown however, (can you put crowns on sun machines? Do songwriters even get given crowns – or do they just shack up with Drew Barrymore and sleep under pianos like that average yet pleasant Hugh Grant film? … I diverge…) was the brand new and (as yet) unrecorded song; ‘One Thing’. With an edgier rock feel and an undeniably strong rhythm, this seemed to be the song most people were discussing in the foyer afterwards.

Concluding with ‘Fast Learner’, Nick & The Sun Machine ended the set to rapturous applause, and the kind of support that makes me so fond of St Albans – though I have no doubt they would have (and will) provoke the same reaction elsewhere.

I thought about Nick Stephenson’s words that many of the album’s songs were penned in a creatively rich period ignited by listening to the album ‘Let England Shake’ by PJ Harvey:

“… I heard that and thought it was one of the most powerful records I’d heard in years, and it just set me off writing most of these songs – it influenced not ‘how’ we sound but more the thing that drove the writing,” he’d explained;

and I found myself concentrating harder for the signs that Blur, Jane’s Addiction, Wild Beasts, The Beatles and Beach Boys were also all creative influences for this album, as I listened to it for the second and third time on my journey home.

Oh yeah, and something about Toploader.

‘Wide Lying Smiles’ is now out. More info can be found at http://www.nickandthesunmachine.co.uk

10 things I loved about you, Folkstock:

This time last week Folkstock Festival had drawn to a close. This week, I think my blog is drawing to a close too. Aside from our wonderful videos, which will be posted up shortly (I’ll notify all my readers via my Folkstock twitter feed when they are completed and uploaded), I’d like to sign off with my 10 favourite things about Folkstock Festival. Hopefully you’ve enjoyed my ramblings and perhaps there’ll be a Folkstock Festival next year, that I’ll see you all at?!

1. The “game for a laugh” mentality.

This blog, although often carrying a serious message, is meant to be a bit of fun. I was invited along to blog from a young person’s perspective – and that’s the tone and style I’ve tried to keep. My blogging team were set the same task. Sound editor and interviewer Mikey D interviewed many of the artists, and came up with some unusual lines of questioning. I love that everyone was game for a laugh! (That bizzare conversation at the Morris dancing performance… that was us. sorry).

NOTE: You’ll also find the full results of Mikey’s ink blot tests on this sound bite too!

2. The tone.

I loved that Folkstock Festival didn’t take itself too seriously. I was a  little worried that it could become commercial – but it stayed true to its independent festival ethos the whole way through.

3. The banter.

I love it when artists are able to connect with their audience. And better still, when they are down to earth enough to be able to laugh at themselves, and invite us (as an audience) to laugh along with them. Lucy Ward got this spot on! She laughed  at herself, we laughed at her, she poked fun at us (mostly for not singing along loud enough), we played along (mostly by shouting her songs back at her). It worked.

 4. The dress sense.

Thanks to Espiritu, there was colourful hair galore at Folkstock Festival! And in fact, some people had got the memo and arrived with their own various funky hair colours ;). I loved that people just felt relaxed and comfortable all day! Most of all Nick (the Nick and The Sun Machine variety) who kitted himself out at The Grand Vintage Fair stall before going on stage!

Photo by Steve Beeston Photography

5. The sing-alongs.

There was plenty of this going on last Saturday (21st September). I must admit, one of my favourite sing-alongs was at the Turn Up The Sun stage – an enclosed space (like a circus tent) perfect for this kind of activity – and was with the band Ryewolf: they were just fun, and played the kind of traditional folk music that has you tapping your feet and clapping along.

Ryewolf

6. The freebies.

Some festivals give away wristbands and glow sticks. Folkstock gave away hair styles, updos, hair chalks, braids, head messages, foot massages, etc. Thanks to Espiritu Spa and Salon!

Espiritu salon and spa

7. The quirky extras.

There were so many good stalls at Folkstock Festival. I loved the CD stall (Talking Elephant), but my favourite quirk of the day was being able to enjoy a cuppa from a china tea cup and not a styrofoam cup! Thank you Time 4 Tea!

8. The food.

Pizza stand with a stone-fire oven. Crepe stall. I don’t think I need to even say anymore.

9. The family element.

Anyone who thinks kids wouldn’t enjoy a folk festival, or would end up getting bored – should have come to Folkstock.

10. The Memorable moments.

This pretty much includes the whole festival. Beginning to end. From arriving in the morning with no clue what to do (sorry to mention it Helen, but you missed me off of the production mailing list… 🙂 ) – luckily the cars either side of us in the car park included Lauren Deakin-davies (Helen’s daughter) on one side – who verified who I was, and a kind stranger on the other side, who by chance had printed off a spare production car parking pass, and gave it to us! (thank you so much, whoever you were!) to snapping my tent pole clean in half when putting my tent up in the evening (luckily, ever the problem-solver, I remembered I had some children’s plasters in my bag [I’m a hands-on Auntie] which I used to hold it together). It was the kind of fun, crazy, random, exciting day I’d hoped it would be!

Poor tent post

A couple more testimonials, from those taking part at Folkstock…

 “It’s been a good day; the audience are really chilled out which is cool. I’m happy to be involved and its been a good for a first year. I’ve done a lot of festivals this summer, and this one has got good set up – the sound doesn’t bleed between stages.” – Luke Jackson

“Folkstock’s on my front doorstep; I live just across the field, so I thought I’d come along!” – Anna Wendean

“It’s a great little stage (the Alt Stage) with its own audience. I really enjoyed it.” – Roxanne de Bastion

“We’ve been doing well – lots of people are buying things and one of the artists (Nick Stephenson) even bought one of our flags to wear on his stage! A European Union one of all things! He’s playing at 2.30 on the Alt Stage. I’m going to watch.” – The Grand Vintage Fair, St Albans

“It was really good; I really enjoyed it and it was a good stage to play on. I’m glad I bought the flag and hat from the stall (Grand Vintage Fair) too: they sent people our way!”- Nick Stephenson

“It’s been busy and we’ve just been grabbing passers-by and pulling them in – they’re loving it! I just can’t wait for the salon to open now!” –Epsiritu staff

Some of the people I chatted to.

One final review, from Altitude Arithmetic …

Altitude Arithmetic Reviews: ‘Folkstock’ (21st September 2013) 

Words: Priya Garg

Altitude Arithmetic was invited to the inaugural year of family-friendly trad-mod folk/roots fusion acoustic music festival, brainchild of Helen Meissner and home for a day to more than 70 artists from local to more nationally known performers and debut to veteran professionals at ‘Folkstock’.

Four dedicated stages were erected in the rugged leafy green fields of Aldenham Countrypark, just south of the pink streamer-covered visitor walkway and completed with everything from singing/ukelele workshops to various arts & crafts stalls, a selection of ciders, ales and the occasional wandering face-painted, stick-banging Morris Dancer….

READ THE FULL REVIEW HERE

My lasting message from Folkstock Festival…

I’ve made no secret of the fact that Folkstock is all about providing a platform of opportunity. Of course the Folkstock Foundation, which the festival was born out of, was established to support new and emerging acoustic, folk and roots musicians and help to bridge the gap between artists and the harsh business and marketing world – which is the ethos of the entire event – and I’ve written before about the fact that the festival was used to launch local business: Espiritu, but there’s an underlying current that runs a bit deeper than that, in my view.

As you may well know, Folkstock Festival is being used as a case study for social and community research by Dr Linda Wilks, and I’d like to put my two-pence worth in (that’s what a blog is for, surely?).

Whether realising the extent of this or not, Folkstock has allowed me as an individual to explore some of the links between professionalism; breaking into a career path, and the way that a combination of student media and local events can help one to realise their potential.

Earlier in the year Festival Director Helen Meissner approached me, as the then Editor of Hertfordshire Students’ Union magazine; BlueMoon, to write an article about Folkstock Foundation, the festival, and its lead-up events. I was able to include the piece in my ‘Talent Issue‘, which I’d hoped would provide exposure to the many positive things that the students at the University of Hertfordshire are doing; the research taking place, the awards won, and also advice from graduate peers and a spotlight on ways and places to showcase said talents (cue the article about Folkstock). I’d also hoped that my team of writers, photographers and designers responsible for creating our magazine would gain some recognition too.

The article featured in BlueMoon

It was a ploy that worked well. After sending out a copy to Helen (as I did with all the interviewees and contributors external to the university) she researched me and found I’d blogged for the St Albans Film Festival for its debut year. All of a sudden I was agreeing to become the official blogger of Folkstock Festival (bringing a student’s eye view to the proceedings) and my associate editor; Kealie Mardell (an up and coming music journo) was given opportunity to interview the festival team and artists for the UniVerse Newspaper.

Better still, unbeknownst to me, the model of one of our featured photos was being signed up to perform at her first festival.

Natalie Denise, as featured in BlueMoon Magazine

I have to give credit to photographer Saahil Dossani of S.H Photographic for his stunning photo of singer/songwriter Natalie Denise (which incidentally won a Student Recognition Award for Student Media’s Best Photo). This captured Helen’s eye and with a bit more research, she had brought Natalie on-board (I can’t stress enough how appreciated it is when professionals take the time to follow up on individuals!).

Natalie did a great job on the Folkstock Presents… Stage on Saturday. You’d have never known that this was her first festival performance; her sweet voice and moving lyrics of her song dedicated to her nan (Little Hand) – which she is using to fundraise for the Alzheimers Society – had the audience captivated. I hope this leads to good things for her. Find out more about her charity single here.

Never one to miss a trick, you may have read already that I took a small team with me to help with coverage of last Saturday’s festival. There was two reasons for this: the first hope was that between the three of us, we would be able to get some form of coverage of as many artists as possible; whether it be photography, video, audio interview, a tweet, or simply notes on my page – and secondly, because I knew it would give an opportunity for my fellow UH students to put their skills into practice in a real, live event environment.

Eric Sawyer, our videographer for the day, is an enthusiast for all things media, and is set to take on the role of head of Hertfordshire Students’ Union television outlet this academic year. He has filmed many of the acts at the festival and is currently completing post production work and editing footage ready uploading on this blog. All of which will be making its way to our video page.

 

Audio editor and interviewer Michael D’Souza was the Assistant Station Manager for Crush Radio last year. I invited him along after listening to his repertoire of interviews on SoundCloud and remembering that he was looking to explore radio further and make industry contacts. There came a brilliant moment when I was covering the Main stage when BBC Cambridgeshire’s Sue Marchant, who was host for that stage, commented before Pauline Alexander & Edwin Gallagher’s set that radio’s don’t do enough to support these kinds of events.

Ever the one to challenge things, I raced to my blogging team and suggested Mikey D carry out an impromptu interview with BBC’s Sue Marchant addressing that issue. Listen to the result of that conversation below:

So all in all, students and community do go hand-in-hand – and when a local organisation and event gives us the opportunity to step-up, I think we media-folk can produce great results in promoting local talent, and in turn can help promote our own talents. I think we all gained something from the festival on Saturday; whether it be exposure for the artists or exposure as journalists, bloggers and media producers.

Exposure and opportunity: that to me is the lasting impact of Folkstock Festival.

Stay tuned for my last few summary posts coming up over the weekend and lots of videos too!

We Are Not The Same – but we have similarities…

Even with an All Access press pass – and being the official blogger of Folkstock Festival, the blogging team still had to queue up this Saturday at Folkstock to speak to eighteen year-old Luke Jackson (behind all the other press in attendence) which really is credit to his popularity! (I said in my post on Livelikeavip.com that perhaps next year we may be seeing artists such as Luke being regulars on the celebrity gossip blog).

But Luke was still super friendly and obliging when we set Mikey D the task of carrying out a ‘memorable interview’ – and he was the only other person at the time (until a later interview with Lucy Ward) who saw the same images in the ink test as me! Funny, that the two acts whose lyrics I felt I connected most with (Luke’s Last Train and Lucy’s For The Dead Men) answered in the same way! – They must have a similar mind to me (poor people)!

Anyone get the feeling that Mikey D‘s ‘thorough research’ came from the previous post about Luke? Here’s the ink blot tests that Mikey and Luke are discussing in the interview.

Much of this week, whilst sitting in little area that I like to call Folkstock Blog HQ, I have been kept motivated by the sounds of Luke Jackson, and his debut album More Than Boys.

This is the second time in the last few weeks that I’ve bought an album that I can’t stop listening to (the first being Broken Boat‘s album Peace and Quiet), but Luke’s lyrics and his powerful voice are truly moving.

I knew this already though, since listening to him at the Folkstock Foundation’s Marketing Matters event all those weeks ago – where his song: Last Train genuinely gave me goosebumps. Perhaps it’s because I’m a former ‘Army WAG’; but the song grips me.

I’ve been desperate to get a copy of his album ever since, so I was more than pleased when he announced at the end of an awesome set on the Main Stage at Saturday’s Folkstock Festival (I think its fair to say that Luke got the loudest reaction from the crowd all day) that he’d brought some copies of the CD along to sell! And I do love CDs that still include quality photos and lyric listings!

Anyway, have a listen to Mikey D’s interview – I’d love to know what you’re thoughts on the X Factor discussion are (to be a hypocrite, or to not be a hypocrite – comment box below please)!

Lucy Ward Sings …and Speaks

“Ey up!” – that is the greeting you will find on all of Lucy Ward’s blog posts on her website: lucywardsings.com.

I knew before Folkstock Festival began that I had my eye on Lucy Ward as a serious up and coming artist – and one we’re going to be seeing a lot more of in the future. Not only have I been seeing her pretty blue hair staring back from my press page since I started this blog in June (you’ll see her picture in the Observer is the first press cutting I uploaded) but in the lead up to our festival last weekend, Lucy made the awesome achievement of reaching number 28 in the Independent Music Charts – a feat I made sure to mention in my recent guest blog post for LiveLikeaVIP.com (If you missed it, you can see it here)…

When it came to the evening proceedings of Folkstock, I definitely had a mark next to her name on my programme – I wasn’t going to be missing the Derbyshire beauty. I wasn’t sure what it would mean for her set – and to us as an audience – when it was announced a few minutes before she was due on stage that she would be moving from the Main Stage to the Alt Stage; but I’m glad she did. I’m not entirely  sure of the reasoning behind the move, but I thought the Alt Stage had had a good vibe all day, and felt like it was its only little gig in the space it was given (its own little pocket of Folkstock) – so to have Lucy headline this stage was a fitting end to the energy we had seen here all day. And boy, did Lucy have energy!

I could tell from the reaction of the crowd that many of the audience members were fans and followers of Lucy – I don’t think there was a single song where people weren’t singing along unprompted! (Even the song about talking dirty  in Hawaiian was happily sung along to!). It was a great set to finish our Folkstock blogging work on (we decided to treat ourselves when we headed to the Main Stage, by keeping headliners Kris Drever and Eamonn Coyne as a work-free end to the day!), but not before letting Mikey D loose with some questions. Feel free to tweet Mikey with some REAL facts about Derby!

Reflections and Re-blogs

It really is great to see so many positive responses and warm words of thanks in response to Folkstock Festival.  If you went to the festival, you might be interested to know that we are collecting feedback for Folkstock Arts Foundation to assess the social benefits of music festivals and would really appreciate a few mins to complete this easy to do survey. Click here to access it.

I’ll leave you with a few more words of reflection from the wonderful FRESH ON THE NET blog…

by Johnno Casson

I was lucky enough to attend (& play) the inaugural Folkstock Festival this past weekend & what a lovely festival it was too.

Folkstock is an acoustic festival whose proceeds go to the charites Cancer Research UK and the Folkstock Arts Foundation (helping support and develop acoustic artists).

A new boutique festival has no right to be this friendly,this welcoming & this well organised has it? Well Folkstock most certainly was.Stages were managed with military precision yet with a warm & personal touch that was charming.

Set in the beautiful grounds of Alderham Country Park they had 4 stages of music & an assortment of homespun stalls & activities for everyone.

READ THE REST OF THE BLOG POST HERE

Reblog: How much musical talent can you cope with seeing in one day?

Wow!! Absolutely wow!! Folkstock was an amazing event! Unfortunately my lack of WiFi hotspots and less than impressive phone battery life (darn you iOS 7!) meant I didn’t really have the chance to blog on the go as I’d intended – but I managed a few tweets and some Instragram  posts too over the course of the day. I camped out at Aldenham Country Park last night (so I could make the most of some of the tasty ales on sale!), so after returning back from the wildness (humour me) – I’ve just about located, downloaded, rotated and uploaded (*breathe*) the majority of my photos, notes and video clips (we have many more to come though from our fantastic videographer), so you can expect lots of things to be appearing on this blog over the next week or so. In the mean time I found this fantastic blog post from Redwood Photography, so thought I’d share to whet your appetite a little…

Redwood Photography: Folkstock

Posted in: blog live music Sep 22 2013

How much musical talent can you cope with seeing in one day?

Folkstock was a bit mind-blowing….a diverse array of artists that started off really well and that just seemed to get better and better as the day went on.  Great festival….top job by organiser Helen Meissner and team.

Best acts?  Well the headliners were all good of course…The Willows, Lucy Ward, Boho Dancer….but other stand-out acts for me were Luke Jackson, Tom Moon, The Good The Bad and The Ginger, Ben Smith (blew me away), Flaming June (great stage energy), Fred’s House (been listening to their stuff for a while now), Alice (check out her single ‘Soldier’ on iTunes – seriously good!) and The Fallows (yeah I know I’m biased ‘cos they’re from Cov…but they’re still brilliant!).

READ THE REST OF THE BLOG POST HERE.

Thank you Redwood Photography!

It’s happening TOMORROW!

Phew! It’s a fantastic mix of excitement and fanatic busyness as we get ready for the last sleep before Folkstock Festival and Family Fete.  Volunteers and our festival director Helen have been working hard on site today to get everything ready, and if you click the image below you can see a large view map of the festival grounds at Aldenham Country Park:

If the earlier week’s poor weather has had you “um-ing” and “ah-ing” and you’ve only just decided that you are going to come along (well done, you’ve made the right decision!) there’s still time to buy your tickets online – simply visit the ticket sales page on our website. It’s also not too late to book a camping site if today’s weather has got you feeling more optimistic about that too; that can be done here.

I think seeing all the final details and preparations, such as the wrist bands that will be issued on the day – including the purple media ones that me and my little team of ; photographer: Saahil Dossani, Videographer: Eric Sawyer of Hertfordshire Students’ Union television and Sound Editor: Michael D’Souza will be wearing (if you see us on the day, come and say hi!), makes it all very real!

So, finally – keep an eye on this blog tomorrow – for live event coverage (sorry in advance for any typos or grammar/punctuation errors that slip through in all the madness – do keep me on my toes by letting me know) and in the week following; as further reviews and more pics, audio and vids will be posted! See you tomorrow!

Folkstock Celebrity Support

This week, celebrity & VIP gossip mega blog; Live Like a VIP, allowed me to write a piece about Folkstock Festival for their site. In-keeping with their style and content, I covered some of the celebrity support Folkstock has gained.

VIP Meet&Greet: Planning an independent music festival

Many of us go to festivals over the summer, but most of us don’t spend the summer months planning our own! But that’s exactly what cancer survivor Helen Meissner has been doing to raise money for Cancer Research UK and Folkstock Arts Foundation; a community interest organisation created to provide a platform for up and coming acoustic artists looking to get signed.

READ THE REST OF THE POST HERE

Who’s playing at Folkstock?

I’ve been busy this week trying to think of all the ways to get information about our amazing Folkstock Festival (and the talented  line-up) across to our followers, and those in-betweenies that are thinking about buying a ticket but not yet sure…  (just remember, you always regret what you didn’t do, not what you did 😉 ).

I have previously introduced some of the main acts playing at Folkstock, but seeing as that was a while ago – and likely to have gotten lost in the mass of blog posts, I thought I’d bring you a quick and easy way to get to know some of our artists: via my Pinboard.

If you are – or know of – any Folkstock Festival artists that aren’t on the board, please help a blogger out and go ahead and add them – I’d love to see all of the acts’ websites on there by the weekend!

Follow the board through to Pinterest to see the larger range of our artists – all image will take you through to their websites.